I knew when I made this cake before that I wanted to try it again with different flavours. I made this version for a dinner we had for our nephew Brian some weeks back. Hazelnut and chocolate are a great combo, think Nutella and I figured it would make a wonderful layer cake!

I actually got 16 layers out of the batter because I used less per layer.

Directions:

Preheat the broiler (I have this range with two ovens, this time I used the smaller oven and it still took 2 minutes per layer and did not burn).

Butter the bottom and sides of a 4″ x 6.7″ loaf pan and line with buttered parchment paper. I left enough of the parchment to go past the top of the pan, so I could use it to lift the cake out when it was done.

Weigh your empty bowl, write down the measurement. In this bowl, cream the softened butter, 1/4 cup of sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add the egg yolks one at a time and beat until smooth. Fold the flour into the batter with a rubber spatula.

In a clean bowl with clean beaters, beat the egg whites with the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar until stiff and shiny but not dry. With about 1/3 of the beaten whites, loosen the batter by mixing it in with a wooden spoon. Fold the remaining whites into the loosened batter, being careful not to over-mix.

Weigh your bowl with the cake batter. Subtract this new weight from the old weight so you know how much your batter weighs and divide this weight in half. Put a second bowl on a scale that can tare and zero it out. Pour half the batter into this bowl (you can see exactly when you reach half on the scale).

Into one half of the batter, gently fold in the 1/4 cup hazelnut butter and the essence. Into the other batter, gently fold in the 1/4 cup sifted cocoa powder.

Pre-heat the pan (this makes the batter easier to spread out). Pour 2 tablespoons of the hazelnut batter into the bottom of the pan and spread out evenly.

Bake in a hot broiler for 2 minutes. Watch carefully. Mine is exactly two minutes.

Pour 3 tablespoons of the chocolate batter, spreading it over the first layer to form a thin second layer. Place the pan under the preheated broiler for 2 minutes, or until the layer is firm. Continue until you have exhausted both batters. Emeril noted that the cake typically has between 12 and 15 layers — I ended up with 16, not bad for a second timer!

Allow the cake cool on a wire rack, turn out onto a cutting board and even up the sides by cutting clean new edges.

To make the ganache, heat 1/4 cup of whipping cream until it almost boils. Pour over the chocolate chips and stir until melted. Allow to almost cool and pour over the cooled cake (you can allow it to drip down the sides, I didn’t want to).

To make the hazelnut whipped cream, beat 1/4 cup of whipping cream until stiff, add 1 tbsp hazelnut butter and whip until entirely incorporated and smooth.

Slice thinly and serve at room temperature with a dollop of the hazelnut whipped cream.

A nice delicate hazelnut flavour in the whipped cream balances the chocolate ganache on the cake.

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62 Responses

Eva that’s absolutely lovely. This cake is truly a work of art. Sorry I have not been around – I have been hungry a lot – but no longer. I can admire your cake now and I promise I will check out what you are up to more often. [It’s amazing what a little bit of fibre can do for a person.]

Hi Zsuzsa, I appreciate your comments thank you. I hope all is well and that the diet is going better. I started reading your post but I want to read it when I can pay full attention after work.
The cake was fun to make and it didn’t take nearly as much effort as it looks like it does.

My goodness Eva – this looks SO professional! Like, really awesomely well done. The sort of thing I’d expect to see in a patisserie window or something. I bet this created quite the hubbub of “ooh”ing and “aah”ing at the table when you brought it in, right? 😀

I am very flattered by our lovely compliments Charles, thank you kindly. I’m surprised at how little effort or trouble it takes to make this, yet the wow factor is really there. I think I’ll have to make it again soon. Last night I made Kladdkaka and it was very delicious (I made an orange liqueur infused yogurt for it, very tasty indeed).

Eva, I was seriously impressed by your previously posted version of this unusual cake, but this one looks even more perfect (if it’s possible!). I suppose it’s the chocolate’s presence, but I find this lapis legit more irresistible too.

You really can’t go wrong with hazelnut and chocolate. I love how elegant this cake looks Eva. I have a friend who makes a simplified version of this cake,She places one layer of batter , sprinkles it with cinnamon or coco powder or ground pistachios,then she bakes it, and she repeats that with the whole batter. You still get that layered look but I think yours tastes much better because the flavors are infused into the batter

I really like the look of the varying sized layers – it makes it look homemade and real – so pretty too; it doesn’t detract at all from the beauty of the cake, instead it makes it more interesting to my eye. Chocolate and hazelnut has got to be one of life’s greatest pleasures ;-). I just love that combo and can imagine how well received this version was. (cream is my favored topping too! my 3 boys/men usually opt for ice cream).

There’s nothing like sitting down to a dinner at someone’s house and being served something so expertly prepared — and with such a high level of difficulty. As a guest, it really is an honor to be treated so well. You, Eva, know and appreciate this, Your guests must truly anticipate your dinners. I know I would.

You keep outdoing yourself, Eva, did it take less time to make this second time around? Love the hazelnut whipped cream idea. Guess you will not tolerate any interruption while you are baking the layers.

Thanks so much Norma, interruptions can only happen if they are less than the two minutes it takes each layer to bake. This one actually took a bit longer because I made the layers much thinner and therefore had more of them. I suspect the more you practice the easier and faster you can do it!

I’d love to try a slice of this cake, Eva, though I’d have to get a lot better at cake baking before I tried making it as it seems a carelessly added layer would make a mess of the gorgeous look and waste all the effort to get to that step.

I tried a St. Patrick’s Day version of this cake (mint extract and green food colouring) but made a mistake on the math when I weighed the batter to which to add the food colouring. Of course I added to the larger amount so I couldn’t fix things. After some cake surgery and a chocolate ganache I ended up with something that tasted pretty good.

Hi Maria, was that the cake on your post, it actually looked lovely! And what a nice tribute to St. Paddy’s Day! Did you also flavour it with mint? I see a lot of Crème de Menthe recipes today, it might be a nice fresh taste with chocolate. The ganache looks very professional, so smooth and shiny!

Yes, Eva. I used peppermint extract to flavour the ‘green’ layer of the cake as well as the food colouring. There were supposed to be more layers, of course, but I used a 9″ springform pan. Next time, I’d make 2 batches of the batter in different bowls and colour/flavour them differently in order to get a nice tall, cake.

The original post was at the link below where I listed some of the things I messed up in the first attempt. It was done right after I shovelled last Wednesday’s snow so I might have been too tired to be thinking clearly. 🙂

Thanks Charlie, it’s not difficult at all, just a little practice. Because each layer bakes on top of the last, it’s really rather easy. And my 15 layers took less than one hour, but it is finicky for sure.

Eva, this is almost just way to pretty to eat. Wow! that is impressive as you must have so much patience to do this. I love hazelnuts and I know I would adore this dessert. I see you took some beautiful pictures. I hope you took at least a 100 photos before your family devoured it. Take care, BAM

That looks mighty impressive Eva. Your original version was delicious — thanks for saving me a piece! The flavours were as I remembered them — the cake has a very unique taste to it. I particularly liked it with the candied orange, which I am assuming is your own addition? There is no doubt that we would love this hazelnut version too!

Ps – what does it mean to use a scale that can tare? I don’t want to hit the link and lose my comment!